LOS ANGELES — A missed free throw, a sloppy inbounds play, a winning opportunity swiped out of the hands of Isaiah Thomas.

And for the first time in two months, a loss at Staples Center for the Lakers.

They had their chances in a 108-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. So many it was hard to keep track. But even after Damian Lillard poured in four straight 3-pointers to stun the Lakers and erase their commanding fourth-quarter lead, the Lakers had a chance to win.

With 1.5 seconds left, Thomas rose for a deep 3-point attempt that would have forced overtime. He was stripped by Shabazz Napier and it all came to an end.

The five-game winning streak. The run of nine straight wins at home.

“It was right there the whole game,” Kyle Kuzma lamented.

Lillard scored a game-high 39 points, but 15 of those came after Thomas made a pair of free throws with 5:26 left to put L.A. ahead by 11 points.

The Lakers are down Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram, who will miss at least a week with a strained groin, but the kids were at it again. The night had taken on the same air of inevitability that defined their five-game winning streak. What followed them from Sacramento to Atlanta to Miami and San Antonio had made the trip back to Staples Center.

For much of the night, the Lakers (28-35) looked to be headed for another win, destined to extend their longest winning streak since 2010-11.

However, Lillard’s tetrad of treys came in the span of 142 seconds, and at the end of it Portland led 103-99.

After Kuzma split a pair of free throws, Ball made his third 3-pointer of the game to tie the score once again at 103 with 1:51 left.

For all of the setbacks, the injuries, the fatigue, the offensive firepower of Lillard, the Lakers kept fighting back. The game was never really out of their reach.

Unlike rebounds.

After Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed a driving shot with 58.6 seconds left, the Blazers managed to corral two offensive boards, retaining possession for the next 50.9 seconds.

“Annoying,” was how the Lakers’ best rebounder, Julius Randle, described the sequence.

“Annoying,” he repeated.

Out of options, the Lakers sent C.J. McCollum to the foul line with 7.7 seconds left with a chance to ice the game.

That’s where things got weird beyond words.

An 86.4 percent foul shooter on the season, McCollum missed the first, then watched the second rattle out. Randle seized the rebound, and the Lakers called timeout, setting up a final shot.

The Blazers fouled prior to the inbounds pass, and due to a new league rule, that meant one free throw plus possession. So, with 7.4 seconds left, Thomas, who made his first 50 free-throw attempts after being traded to the Lakers, marched to the line.

Like McCollum, he missed.

“I don’t miss free throws,” said Thomas, who finished with 19 points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field. “It’s one of them nights. … I’ve missed free throws before. It just happens, I’m a really good free-throw shooter and just like McCollum, he missed two in a row.”

Even after the miss, the Lakers still had the ball.

Ball took his place as the inbounder, and after a fine defensive effort from Portland, was forced to sail a pass to Brook Lopez, who nearly relinquished possession. He shoveled it to Thomas, who failed to get the shot off.

Ball struggled throughout the night, finishing with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting, two rebounds and two assists. Six Lakers scored in double figures, led by Randle’s 21.

Neither Portland nor the Lakers had lost since the All-Star break. And Portland’s six-game roll had came over teams such as Golden State, Oklahoma City and Minnesota and catapulted the Blazers to third in the Western Conference entering the night.

Portland built a 14-point lead in the first half, but the Lakers rallied and at halftime trailed just 58-55. Both teams were held to just five field goals in the third quarter, but the Lakers outscored Portland by 10 in the period by virtue of being sent to the foul line 13 times.

But the Lakers have struggled to close out the Blazers this season, losing their first two matchups in dramatic fashion as well. On Dec. 23, they lost after Maurice Harkless scored on a putback and-one to seal the win for Portland.

Then, back on Nov. 2, Lillard canned a 3-pointer with seven-tenths of a second left to beat the Lakers in Portland. As Randle said, “Those tough shots are shots he makes all the time.”

“As players,” Thomas added, “we’ve got to do a better job of acknowledging where the fire’s at. And try to stop it.”

Bill Oram covers the Los Angeles Lakers for the Southern California News Group. He covered the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. He is the (usually) bearded guy in the background wearing a University of Montana hat.

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